


The Song and Tail left Behind

by OritheReticent



Category: Darkwing Duck (Cartoon 1991), DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Drake is trans but it doesn't come up in the story, Emily Windsnap au, Father-Daughter Relationship, I like mermaids, M/M, Mermaids are cool, Merman Launchpad, Temporary Amnesia, ex-SHUSH agent Launchpad, half-mermaid Gosalyn, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 10:41:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29932197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OritheReticent/pseuds/OritheReticent
Summary: Gosalyn is a spitfire 8 year old daughter of a superhero, she has also, incidentally never been in the ocean before. Something odd happens when Gosalyn finally does falls into the ocean for the first time. What does it have to do with her missing parent?
Relationships: Drake Mallard & Gosalyn Mallard, Drake Mallard & Gosalyn Mallard & Launchpad McQuack, Drake Mallard/Launchpad McQuack, Gosalyn Mallard & Launchpad McQuack
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	The Song and Tail left Behind

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Writingflufforbust](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writingflufforbust/gifts).



> A few things to note. 1, Gosalyn is Drake and Launchpad's biological daughter in this, I didn't want to have to do that but it's important for plot. I really love her adoption story in Darkwing Duck it's super cute. 2, Drake is trans but it's not really going to come up. 3, I really like mermaids and I'm going to use a few different elements from a few different stories.

The day that Gosalyn Mallard fell off of a bridge began normally. 

It was Friday! The one day of the week where she was actually allowed to patrol with her dad. Not that she didn’t sneak out or try and argue for other days. But still! Her dad could be a real stickler for things like that. Gosalyn couldn't believe that he  _ still  _ said she was still too young, she was 8 years old after all, and she had saved him before. He only agreed to let her come on Fridays if she was good during the school week and he would make her sit in the side car anyway. Boring, but hey, it beat getting grounded for sneaking out. So she pretended to pay attention to her 2nd grade teacher and waited for school to end.

And it did, eventually, and now she was waiting for her father to get her, Honker, and Honker’s older brother Tank, whenever he happened to show up that is. She noted that the blue sky was rapidly becoming dark grey, almost black, heavy, swirling clouds were rolling in fast. A cold drop of water hit her neck, and then another icy drop hit her hair, and another and another. The rain started slowly, like the sky was beginning to cry. She held her backpack above her head, half because while she didn’t mind getting wet, her dad would be worried she’d catch a cold, and partially because she was hoping the rain would soak her homework and ruin it. Honker reached into his bag and pulled out a small collapsable black umbrella. He struggled to grab the metal with the rain already making it slippery, but he managed it after a couple of tries. He held it over both of their heads. Gosalyn slipped her backpack onto her back again.

“Thanks Honker, but I was kinda hoping to soak my fractions paper,” Gosalyn said

Honker frowned, “why, do you not understand it?”

“No, but I already know how to do fractions so why would I waste my time doing the homework?”

Honker had already finished his fractions work and just smiled, “because the teacher and your dad will be mad if you don’t?”

At that moment, Honker was suddenly sent tumbling backwards into a bush. Gosalyn, being who she is and also the daughter of a vigilante, immediately kicked the perpetrator in the knee. It made a loud crack and thud, the bone moved under her foot and the boy fell. It was Tank, Gosalyn realized when she finally looked up at him. Tank immediately jumped back to his feet as the other kids around began to laugh at him. He winced as he put weight on his leg.

“She got you good!” called one kid as they walked away. Gosalyn ignored Tank’s annoyed grunt, and walked over to where Honker had already gotten to his feet. Gosalyn picked up his glasses, which had fallen off, and handed them to him. 

“Nice landing.”

“Thanks,” he said, attempting in vain to brush mud off of his clothes and pushing his glasses onto his face.

Gosalyn wasn’t sorry about the bruises on Tank’s knee, though she was sure she would pay for it later. Tank glared at her through narrowed eyes, his face was a deep red.

“I’ll get you for that,  _ girl _ ,” he muttered, venom in his voice and mud on his face, only she and maybe Honker could hear him. Gosalyn was not amused. 

“I’d like to see you try,  _ Tank, _ ” she snapped, whipping around to face him, raising a fist, fully ready to give him a matching bruise on his uninjured skin if he tried anything.

“What, gonna hit me?” he said scathingly, nevermind the fact that he backed away just a few steps as he did.

“Be quiet, Tank,” said Honker quietly, peeking his head out from behind Gosalyn’s form.

Tank opened his mouth, which was twisted into an angry frown, to say something, probably something mean, when her dad, who was named Drake Mallard, pulled into the pickup lane with a screech.

“Get in the car you three!”

She opened the car door and clambered into the passenger seat. Throwing her bag into the back it hit the backseat that just happened to be the seat Tank had taken.

It was just a coincidence of course. 

“Hey!”

“Sorry!” she called back, just barely managing to suppress her grin. 

Her dad just sighed, but Gosalyn caught his smirk as he turned his head to look out the side mirror. They were silent for a moment. Then Gosalyn turned around.

“Hey Honker, are you coming with me and Dad tonight?” said Gosalyn quickly. Honker occasionally came on patrol with them. Dad was driving down a road next to Audubon bay which led to the ocean. She could see the storm that was just starting completely covered the sky and disappeared over the horizon. She and her dad had lived in walking distance of the ocean for the entirety of Gosalyn’s life, she had never been in it though, dad always said it was too dangerous. Gosalyn thought that was a dumb reason especially when his catchphrase was ‘let’s get dangerous’. He didn’t even let her go in pools, she had asked why once, he got a glazed look in his eyes and said ‘because I said so.’

“You can’t go!” Tank said triumphantly.

“Shut up Tank.”

“Sorry Gosalyn he’s right, I can’t, my grandparents are visiting.”

“Too bad Honker, guess you’ll come next time?” 

“Sure.”

Then, dad pulled into their driveway. Tank didn’t waste a second, leaving the car and running back home before Honker even managed to open the door. Mrs. Muddlefoot walked out as Tank ran in. 

“Oh, hello dear!” she called, walking over to Honker who had just gotten out of the car, “thank you for picking up Tank and Honker today!” 

“Err, no problem, Binkie,” said dad as he locked the car door and began walking towards the house, Gosalyn at his side. Clearly he was hoping to avoid small talk, but neither the rain nor dad’s annoyance deterred Mrs. Muddlefoot.

“Oh dear, are you and Gosalyn going away for tonight?” 

“I’ve got a night shift, and Gosalyn here is always so insistent on joining me I thought I’d indulge her for tonight,” he replied casually patting Gosalyn on the head, “anyway, Gos, go finish your homework and get ready,” he said and shooed her into the house.

“That’s lovely, dear, let me know if you need anything,” Binkie said, walking quickly to catch up with them before dad could shut the door. Gosalyn could see her dad roll his eyes.

“Will do,” he slammed the door then turned to Gosalyn, “I wasn’t kidding about homework.”

“Aww Dad!” she whined, tossing her bag next to the door, “I’ll do it before Monday!”

“No, do it before tonight or you can’t come,” he replied leaning onto the wall.

“No fair!”

“I don’t have to be fair, I’m the parent.”

“You're a dictator,” Gosalyn accused. She crossed her arms over her chest with a frown.

“And this dictator is demanding you do your homework or you  _ will  _ stay home tonight.”

Gosalyn pouted at her dad, hoping that if she stared long enough he’d relent. Dad made an annoyed noise and looked away from her, “Fine, but it better be done by Sunday, and your room needs to be cleaned.”

  
  


The Mallard house on Avion Way was fairly normal looking. Yellow walls and red tiling in an idyllic suburb. The house really wasn’t that different from every other house in the neighbourhood. At least in appearance, that was the case. It’s inhabitants were unusual, at least in the mind of their neighbours. Drake Mallard and his spitfire daughter Gosalyn Mallard. For as long as anyone could remember, Drake Mallard had been a single father. It was unusual in that particular neighborhood, they had a couple of single mothers, but only one or two single fathers. Another unusual quality of the Mallard family was that Drake worked at night, and nobody, not even the Muddlefoots, knew what he did, this fact sparked a number of rumours.

Was Drake Mallard an office worker? A janitor? A spy? Depends on who you ask. 

Gosalyn knew some of the more vicious and rude neighbors whispered about her and her dad. She knew that because their children didn’t whisper. That wasn’t entirely true, the meeker ones whispered, the ordinary ones talked, and the bolder ones said it to her if they were brave enough.

There was a reason that Honker was one of her only friends.

The girls wouldn’t play with her, they said that she was hardly a girl. The boys wouldn’t play with her, she was just a girl after all. The sports oriented students didn’t want to play because she was too rough. The nerdy children thought she was too loud.

They weren’t mean to her face, the other children had learned very quickly that Gosalyn Mallard was not one to be trifled with, and she was not afraid of punching faces.

Too rambunctious, too hyperactive, too much spirit. 

They didn’t know anything, her spirit had always been her greatest aspect.

Where and who Gosalyn’s other parent was had been the subject of much debate. Gosalyn hated that particular debate for two reasons, firstly because she didn’t actually know herself and secondly because she sometimes caught adults talking too. Once, Mrs. Muddlefoot had remarked on Gosalyn’s bright red hair when she had thought Gosalyn and Honker couldn’t hear her, ‘I wonder if the poor dear got her hair from her other father?’ and her remark hadn’t even been unkind, unlike a different elderly neighbour who had said to her after she kicked a soccer ball into her car window ‘you watch where you kick that ball, girl, no wonder your papa left you’ Honker had gasped, Gosalyn said nothing and just came back later that night to dig up that nasty woman’s flowers.

The mystery of her missing parent was one that weighed on her, mostly because her dad refused to say anything. Even Gosalyn couldn’t get an answer out of him. 

It hurt, the idea that her parent had run away. 

Gosalyn was trying to play a game on the TV to pass the time, but the music which was critical to the games mechanics was drowned out by rainfall. She turned it up to a loud volume. Dad was watching from the couch, but he wasn’t looking at the TV really. He cleared his throat. Gosalyn heard him, but was so focused on her game she didn’t look up. He cleared his throat in a much more obvious way. She still didn’t look up.

“Gosalyn, pause the game and look at me.”

She did without complaint, “what is it, Dad?”

“You aren’t coming Gos,” said her dad regretfully.

“It’s just a little rain, Dad,” she said, looking out the window with him.

“That is not ‘just a little rain’ it’s flooding the streets.”

“Well, I’ll stay in the side car,” she promised desperately, dad looked unconvinced, “I promise!” 

“Gos, it’s really cold out.”

“Then I’ll wear a coat!” she replied, 

“Gos, sweetieー”

“Dad, you promised!” a sinking feeling settled in her chest. She tried to pretend it was just disappointment.

But In all honesty she had never liked her dad going out by himself.

She remembered the times he had wound up in a hospital while she was at home. She remembered Gizmoduck coming to pick her up and take her to her dad. 

What if he got hurt? 

What if he…?

What if…?

He was the only parent she had! He still looked unconvinced.

“Dad! Please!” she said, some panic seeping into her voice despite all her efforts to keep it in.

If she was there, at least if he was hurt, she could help. 

Her dad’s face just looked a little sad. He wrapped his arms under her and pulled her into his lap, cradling her like she was still a baby. 

Dad rocked her gently, humming under his breath. 

“Okay.”

“Hmm?”

“You can come, just promise me you won’t leave the Ratcatcher unless you have too.”

  
  
  


It would have been dark, if not for the soft yellow glow of the streetlights. It was funny how light looked in a city, particularly when dealing with rain. It bounced and twisted and warped against the tar and brick, almost like a funhouse mirror. It was raining hard now, so hard that while the streetlight helped a little bit, the rain obscured anything that wasn’t directly in front of her. Her dad was driving his motorcycle which was called the Ratcatcher. The wind momentarily tore her raincoat away from her face and icy rain hit her like bee stings. She blindly grabbed at it and pulled it over her helmet again. A bolt of lighting lit up the street for a moment.

Normally the light of the streetlights created long, deep shadows that disappeared into the night. Gosalyn knew dad loved it, he lived for the drama of disappearing into the shadows. Tonight they might as well have been fireflies. 

They passed office buildings devoid of life and light. The stores and shops opened all day and all built to attract customers to them like moths were still and silent. 

Gosalyn spotted a Hamburger Hippo joint, imposing and brooding. It appeared slowly in the darkness, like some sort of eldritch monster.

Dad flew past the movie studio, Gosalyn had been sure that some director would take advantage of the rain for a realistic shot, but no one was there either.

If anything or any crimes were being committed they certainly weren’t on the streets. A quiet night in spite of, or maybe because of the storm. It seemed that even criminals knew better than to come out into this kind of weather.

“I think we should go home, Gos, you’ll catch a cold!”

“Dad!”

“There’s nothing happening tonight anyway!” he called back over the thunder, “we’re going home! That’s final!”

He slowed the Ratcatcher down and turned back towards home. They had gotten to Audubon bridge and just started driving in it when the world went pitch black. It happened all at once, the lights made a high pitch noise and then Gosalyn couldn’t see anything. She waved her hand in front of her face but she could see nothing. She could hear nothing over the rain. 

“Don’t worry, light bulb brethren! I’ll free you!” A spark lit up, and a man with a spark plug on his head was visible for half a second. He was removing light bulbs from streetlights.

Why did the only person up to anything have to be Megavolt? 

Lightning flashed again, she looked to her side in that half a second. The driver's seat was empty. She had heard that you could count how far away a storm was by counting the seconds between lightning and thunder, she had no idea if that was true but she counted anyway. 

One, two, three, four.

BOOM.

“I AM THE TERROR THAT FLAPS IN THE NIGHT! I AM THE METAL DOOR THAT SHOCKS YOU BEFORE YOU GET TO THE POST OFFICE! I AM DARKWING DUCK!” 

Megavolt snarled loudly and Gosalyn could see that they were fighting through the occasional lightning. One two three four. 

Flash. Megavolt was slammed into a wall. Flash. Darkwing Duck was kicked back. Flash. 

She really couldn’t tell what was happening and she hopped out of the sidecar. 

The rain went up to her ankles. She sloshed slowly through it, she wasn’t going to get involved, she just wanted to see. She only walked to the front of the Ratcatcher. 

She still couldn’t make sense of what was happening, Megavolt was thrown back by a punch from her father, but the punch shocked Darkwing. Megavolt threw himself back at Darkwing. 

One, two, three.

BOOM.

Suddenly, Megavolt had seemed to disappear, but she could see him spot the Ratcatcher, his head sparked when he did. 

He tossed Darkwing violently top the side, sending him skipping across the water like some kind of skipping stone. He ran at the Ratcatcher, still holding his bag full of lightbulbs. 

One, two. 

BOOM. 

Gosalyn tried to hide herself. But there was just nowhere to go.

Then she was wrenched from her position on the bridge as Megavolt grabbed her by the collar. 

“PUT HER DOWN, MEGAVOLT!” her dad screamed from somewhere far away, over the rain and the thunder and every other thing happening in that moment.

“Oh, I’ll put her down alright,” he yelled back, laughing maniacally and his spark plug head flashing. Gosalyn kicked him angrily, “OW that hurt you little brat.”

Suddenly, she saw that Darkwing Duck was running incredibly quickly towards her and Megavolt. Megavolt then put her down. 

He of course put her down by throwing her over the side of the bridge, but he did put her down.

Gosalyn stopped hearing anything, she couldn’t see anything either, it was just too dark.

She was suspended in the air with a million raindrops cascading from the sky and bound for the earth. 

No, not the earth, the ocean. She was falling towards the ocean. 

Was that better or worse? 

She couldn’t swim.

She couldn’t swim!

She’d never even been fully submerged in water before! 

The frothy water that was about to swallow her whole lit up as she spun closer and closer, 

One.

BOOM.

SPLASH. 

The water that she hit was surprisingly solid, but she still sank fully under instantly, kind of like oblek, Honker had made some once, calling it a ‘non Newtonian fluid’. Being submerged in water was a strange sensation, she felt weightless, her hair floated around her. In a way it wasn’t so different from falling. She gasped for breath, salty water burned her throat. Gosalyn shivered involuntarily, the water was freezing. The sound of rain disappeared as her head went under, silence and maybe a distant echoey sound was all that remained. The ocean was not so dissimilar to oblivion in that it was completely dark and silent. But she wasn’t dying. She threw her arms up and sank deeper. Rough waves pushed her back and forth and up and under. She coughed and sputtered for breath as more salt water filled her mouth. Clawing at the water as if that would somehow help.

‘You’re smarter than this,’ she thought sluggishly in a blind panic as she slipped further and further away from the rough waves she had passed through. 

She was smarter than this. 

She knew better than to panic like this, it wouldn’t help.

She stopped thrashing and sinking further. She had never learned to swim, but she had seen other people do it. How had she seen other people do this? They kicked their feet right? 

She kicked a foot, then the other, it brought her closer to the surface, she used her arms to push up and up and up. 

She surfaced. 

But she was fine! She was swimming!

Then something happened. 

One of her legs, while she was kicking it, stuck to her other leg. As if with superglue. She tried to separate her legs, tried kicking one individually, but they would only move at the same time. Gosalyn immediately sank under the sea again. She tried to kick her legs again but they were really stuck together! She reached down to try and pry them apart, but she only felt one slimy limb. Confused, she looked down at her feet and…

What? 

Were those… scales? 

She gasped, water filled her mouth and then her lungs but this time the salt water didn’t burn her.

She was suddenly ripped from the water by warm arms and pulled into the air. Her legs relaxed and she could move them again. Her dad was holding her in one arm and his grappling gun in the other. He used the grappling gun to scale the building quickly. He set Gosalyn down safely on the bridge. She began to cough, the salt water in her lungs ran down her face. She curled into a fetal position, pitching forward further into her dad’s side. He held her so that his cape blocked the rain. 

Her dad had a hand on her face.

“Dad,” she said when enough water had vacated her lungs, she looked around, Megavolt was nowhere to be seen, “where’s Megavolt?”

“Who care’s Gosalyn?! You’re alright…” he sighed, throwing his arms around her. She shivered in his warm embrace.

“I think I’m ready to go home now Dad.”

“No kidding.”


End file.
